In a family epic like Middlesex the characters age and grow old every time we turn a new page. The young lovers Lefty and Desdemona are swinging young newlyweds on one page (it's hard to imagine someone named Desdemona as young, we know) and on the next they're doddering old grandparents. They can't stop time. All they can do is use it to take a moment and reflect on the past, and use what they've learned to affect the future.
Questions About Old Age
- How do Lefty and Desdemona change with age? How do they stay the same?
- Do Tessie and Milton become like their parents as they grow older, or are they different? Does Cal become like his parents when he grows older?
- What life lessons does Cal learn when he gets old that he'd never have understood when he was young?